Not long ago we stumbled across a tiny taco place. The tacos were great. The condiment bar was even better. What made it so great was the big bowl of pickled onions.

Have you ever had pickled onions? Gosh they’re good. Better than that though, they are remarkably easy to make at home. If you’ve never pickled at home before, onions are a wonderful place to start. You’ll feel like a pro-pickler in no time.

All you really need is sliced onions, acid, salt and some sugar. It only takes about an hour before you can enjoy them — although, if you can wait a day, they get even better.

Pickling onions at home is remarkably easy…

We like using red onions. You could just as easily substitute white or yellow onions, although the color from using red is stunning. Something happens as red onions sit in the brine — they become bright and pink.

These pickled onions are sharp and sweet all at the same time. We use a combination of fresh lime juice and apple cider vinegar. That combined with some salt and sugar makes the onions refreshingly acidic. You can certainly use just one acid, but we’ve found the combination adds a touch more complexity.

How to Make Pickled Onions in 1 Hour

PREP 1hr

COOK 10mins

TOTAL 1hr 10mins

These pickled onions are sharp, sweet and refreshingly acidic. We use a combination of fresh lime juice and apple cider vinegar. You can use just one acid, but we’ve found the combination adds a touch more complexity. There’s a lot of elbow room when it comes to adding spices or additional flavors. We use cinnamon sticks, cloves and red pepper flakes. Keep it clean and simple and add none or add a combination of the following: cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, crushed red pepper flakes, whole garlic, star anise, bay leaf, mustard seeds, fresh ginger slices, fennel seeds, coriander seeds or cumin seeds.

Makes approximately 3 cups

You Will Need

2 medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced

2 cinnamon sticks

6 whole cloves

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup (240 ml) apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup (120 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 to 1/2 cup (50 to 100 grams) sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Add sliced onions to a medium bowl. Pour enough boiling water over onions so that they are covered. Count to 10 then drain. Add onions to glass jars (or glass container with lid).

Toast cinnamon, cloves and the red pepper flakes in a small saucepan over medium heat until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk in vinegar, lime juice, a 1/4 cup of the sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until sugar and salt have dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Taste for sweetness then add more sugar as needed. Pour brine over onions.

Allow to stand at room temperature until cooled, cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

This recipe makes about 3 cups, which is quite a lot. We love adding them to just about anything, so we go through them. You could, however, easily divide the recipe by half.

Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We assumed 1/4 cup of sugar.

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This is a weekly staple … bf loves it, and gets anxiety when it starts to run out. He also loves the hummus recipe. Actually I have to make the hummus every 2-3 days because he practically inhales the stuff.

Hi Donna, You can leave some or all of the sugar out and the onions will still pickle. We have never tried this with stevia, but I’d be curious to see if it works out well for you. Let us know if you try it.

These were so perfect! I had pickled onions for the first time at an Indian Buffet and discovered they went well with everything. This recipe seemed to be the most authentic so I followed it exactly and I couldn’t be happier! My boyfriend who tolerates the excessive amount of onions I put in my recipes (but usually leaves most on his plate) eats these straight out of the jar and actually craves them as a snack! I want to use this pickling recipe with every veggie I can think of!

when you say refrigerate for 2 weeks, does that mean that you need to wait 2 weeks before they are ready to eat; or does it mean that they are good for up to 2 weeks? how soon will they be ready to eat after made?

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